Burglar Faces 25-Years To Life In Maspeth Break-In

By Liz Goff

A career criminal with a history of burglary arrests met his match on August 1 at the hands of a Nanny-Cam, police said.

Cops said Felix Perez, 37, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was burglarizing a home on 66th Street in Maspeth at about 1:55 p.m. on August 1, when the homeowner spotted him on the love camera she was monitoring on her phone.

As Perez roamed through the home the woman, who was at work, called 911 to report a burglary in progress, police said.

The woman raced home and met up with police from the 104th Precinct, who were responding to her 911 call, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

The woman let the officers into her home, and kept saying she was afraid for her dog, Boyce said. “She was pacing up and down outside the house, and as the officers moved in she walked behind them,” a police source said. “She walked very quickly from the house a few minutes later, hugging her dog.”

When the cops spotted Perez hiding inside the home, he entered into a physical altercation with one of the officers. During the struggle, the officer hit his head on the ground and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police said.

The cop managed to fire one round at Perez during the struggle, striking Perez in a testicle a police source said. Perez managed to make a run for it, but was spotted running through the rear of a residence on nearby Hull Avenue – with cops in close pursuit.

Cops recovered construction gloves strewn on Hull Avenue, a police source said. The gloves are commonly used b y thieves when the break into locked premises.

Perez tried to jump into a nearby backyard to evade arrest, but was captured moments later by officers at the 104th Precinct, the source said. “He was screaming, ‘It hurts, it hurts,’ and ‘I need help,’ the source said.

Perez was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his injury and was released into police custody on August 3.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Perez was arraigned at Queens Criminal Court on a criminal complaint charging him with second-degree burglary, second-degree assault of a police officer, possession of burglar’s tools, petit larceny, fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and resisting arrest. He is facing up to 28-years to life in prison as a mandatory persistent felon and was held without bail, Brown said.

Police said Perez was paroled on June 2 after serving time on a 5-year sentence for burglarizing a Queens home in 2012. He had previously been sentenced to a 5-year sentence for three burglary convictions in 2011, police said.

“The defendant is accused of brazenly burglarizing a hoe in broad daylight, and then when confronted by bye police engaging in a physical altercation with them before fleeing the scene on foot,” Brown said. “His bid to escape justice, however, proved short lived as police captured him approximately a block away.”

Boyce and Police Commissioner William Bratton said the officers acted appropriately in their pursuit of Perez. “Perez was found burglarizing a home and he attacked police who tried to arrest him,” a top-ranking police source said.

Bratton said the officers were aware that there was an active burglary pattern in the area. “They acted appropriately and apprehended this career criminal with his hands in the cookie jar,” Bratton said.